426
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
[p.426] ... In 1720, some years hefore Watt was born, Joseph
Hornblower was conspicuous in the superintendence and construction of
steam-engines, then called fire-engines, after the model of Newcomen,
being simply atmospheric engines with a single cylinder. He had
seyeral sons: Jonathan, born in 1717, and Josiah, born in 1729,
became eminent. engineers. The Hornblowers, father and sons,
subsequently removed to Cornwall to pursue their business, where they
were engaged in putting up engines from their first introduction into
the mines in 1740. The success of these engines in the mines of
Cornwall induced Colonel John Schuyler to import one for pumping water
from his copper-mine on the Passaic River, near Newark, New Jersey - a
mine rich in ore, but which had been worked as deep as hand and horse
power could clear it of water. His correspondents in London purchased
one of Hornblower's engines, and persuaded Josiah Hornblower, then only
twenty-four years of age, to proceed to America and superintend
its erection. He arrived in New York in September, 1753, and occupied
the best part of a year in building an engine-house and getting it into
successful operation. This was the first steam-engine ever erected on
the continent, of America; and it was when Watt was but seventeen,
and his inventions simply marvels of the future.*
Young Hornblower expected to return to England as
soon as his work was accomplished. But in the neighhorhood of the
Schuyers lived Colonel William Kingsland, grandson of Isaac Kingsland,
the founder of the Kingsland family in America - whose wife was Mary,
daughter of Judge William Pinhorne, of the reader's acquaintance
in the early pages of this work. Hornblower became a frequent visitor
at the Kingslands'. It is the old, old story of romantic love. In two
years his destiny was sealed. He married the beautiful Elizabeth
Kingsland, then twenty-one, and became an American.** He afterwards not
only superintended the engine whenever his skilled services were
needed, but after 1760 for [p.427] several years worked the mines, and
people came from all the country round to see the wonderful machine.
Meanwhile his brother Jonathan remained at Cornwall,
where he died in 1780, several of whose sons were educated as
engineers, and produced many useful and notable inventions. Jabez and
Jonathan were the most conspicuous among them. Jabez was employed
to superintend the erection of steam-engines in Holland and in Sweden.
Jonathan, inventor of a double-cylinder high-pressure engine, was one
of the most active and formidable of the rivals of James Watt; and his
engine is the one now principally used by ocean steamers, as, requiring
only about half the coal of the Watt engine, it is better suited for
long voyages. A litigation ensued, Hornblower's invention being
pronounced an infringement of Watt's patent, which also had two
cylinders, though one of them was only used as a condenser; and while
nothing was ever alleged to the dishonor of the Hornblowers in this
controversy, public favor clamored in behalf of Watt, and they
were defeated.
* Letter of Hon. Joseph P. Bradley, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
** Josiah Hornblower soon rose to eminence, was a judge of the county
courts, Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, and member of the
Continental Congress. He lived until 1809, and among his large family
of children were Joseph, born 1756, died 1777; Margaret, born 1758,
married James Kip, a wealthy New York merchant - of whose daughters,
Eliza married John Schuyer, and Helen married Abel Johnson; James, born
1760, whose only daughter married William Stevens; Dr. Josiah, born
1767, who left a son, Dr. William Hornblower, of Bergen, and two
daughters, one of whom became Mrs. DeWitt, the other, Mrs. Dr. Gautier
and the mother of Dr. Josiah Hornblower Gautier or New York City; and
Joseph C. Hornblower, and Chief Justice of New Jersey, born 1777, died
1864.
Chief Justice Hornblower married Mary Burnet, daughter of Dr. William
Burnet of Belleville, and granddaughter of Dr. William Burnet of
Newark, a famous patriot of the Revolution. Mrs. Hornblower's sister
Caroline married Governor William Pennington of New Jersey, and her
sister Abigail married Caleb S. Riggs, whose, daughter Helen married
Judge William Kent. The children of Chief Justice and Mary Burnet
Hornblower: 1. Joanna, married Thomas Bell, of Philadelphia; 2. Eliza,
married Rev. Mortimer R. Talbot; Emily, married Colonel Alexander M.
Cummings, of Princeton; 4. Harriet, married Hon. Lewis B. Woodruff,
late U. S. Circuit Judge or New York; 5. Charles; 6. Caroline; 7. Mary,
married Hon. Joseph P. Bradley, one of the justices of the, Supreme
Court of the United States; 8. Rev. Dr. William H. Hornblower,
professor in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise, and Progress.
By Martha J. (Martha Joanna) Lamb, Burton Harrison
source: http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC01980676&id=WtFm4qA0eJQC&pg=RA2-PA426&lpg=RA2-PA426&as_brr=1